Use the cron resource to manage cron entries for time-based job scheduling. Properties for a schedule will default to * if not provided. The cron resource requires access to a crontab program, typically cron.

Warning

The cron resource should only be used to modify an entry in a crontab file. Use the cookbook_file or template resources to add a crontab file to the cron.d directory. The cron_d lightweight resource (found in the cron cookbook) is another option for managing crontab files.

The full syntax for all of the properties that are available to the cron resource is:

cron'name'docommandStringdayStringenvironmentHashhomeStringhourStringmailtoStringminuteStringmonthStringnotifies# see descriptionpathStringproviderChef::Provider::CronshellStringsubscribes# see descriptiontimeSymboluserStringweekdayString,SymbolactionSymbol# defaults to :create if not specifiedend

where

cron is the resource

name is the name of the resource block

command is the command to be run

:action identifies the steps the chef-client will take to bring the node into the desired state

command, day, environment, home, hour, mailto, minute, month, path, provider, shell, time, user, and weekday are properties of this resource, with the Ruby type shown. See “Properties” section below for more information about all of the properties that may be used with this resource.

Default. Create an entry in a cron table file (crontab). If an entry already exists (but does not match), update that entry to match.

:delete

Delete an entry from a cron table file (crontab).

:nothing

Define this resource block to do nothing until notified by another resource to take action. When this resource is notified, this resource block is either run immediately or it is queued up to be run at the end of the chef-client run.

The day of month at which the cron entry should run (1 - 31). Default value: *.

environment

Ruby Type: Hash

A Hash of environment variables in the form of ({"ENV_VARIABLE"=>"VALUE"}). (These variables must exist for a command to be run successfully.)

home

Ruby Type: String

Set the HOME environment variable.

hour

Ruby Type: String

The hour at which the cron entry is to run (0 - 23). Default value: *.

ignore_failure

Ruby Types: TrueClass, FalseClass

Continue running a recipe if a resource fails for any reason. Default value: false.

mailto

Ruby Type: String

Set the MAILTO environment variable.

minute

Ruby Type: String

The minute at which the cron entry should run (0 - 59). Default value: *.

month

Ruby Type: String

The month in the year on which a cron entry is to run (1 - 12). Default value: *.

notifies

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may notify another resource to take action when its state changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action that resource should take, and then the :timer for that action. A resource may notifiy more than one resource; use a notifies statement for each resource to be notified.

A timer specifies the point during the chef-client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before

Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the very end of the chef-client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

The syntax for notifies is:

notifies:action,'resource[name]',:timer

path

Ruby Type: String

Set the PATH environment variable.

provider

Ruby Type: Chef Class

Optional. Explicitly specifies a provider.

retries

Ruby Type: Integer

The number of times to catch exceptions and retry the resource. Default value: 0.

retry_delay

Ruby Type: Integer

The retry delay (in seconds). Default value: 2.

shell

Ruby Type: String

Set the SHELL environment variable.

subscribes

Ruby Type: Symbol, ‘Chef::Resource[String]’

A resource may listen to another resource, and then take action if the state of the resource being listened to changes. Specify a 'resource[name]', the :action to be taken, and then the :timer for that action.

A timer specifies the point during the chef-client run at which a notification is run. The following timers are available:

:before

Specifies that the action on a notified resource should be run before processing the resource block in which the notification is located.

:delayed

Default. Specifies that a notification should be queued up, and then executed at the very end of the chef-client run.

:immediate, :immediately

Specifies that a notification should be run immediately, per resource notified.

This attribute is not applicable on the AIX platform. The name of the user that runs the command. If the user property is changed, the original user for the crontab program continues to run until that crontab program is deleted. Default value: root.

weekday

Ruby Type: String

The day of the week on which this entry is to run (0 - 6), where Sunday = 0. Default value: *.

The following examples demonstrate various approaches for using resources in recipes. If you want to see examples of how Chef uses resources in recipes, take a closer look at the cookbooks that Chef authors and maintains: https://github.com/chef-cookbooks.